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Elisha
Elisha was a human occult scholar, summoner, and frost mage from Halsha who sacrificed himself to save Halse from a worldwide invasion by the Fair Folk. Despite this, he isn't well-known outside of Halsha and is thought of as a traitor to the empire for his role in the assassination of Emperor Hovannes I. Backstory Elisha was born to Vissarion Ustimovich, the commander of the Duskwalkers, an elite Halshan expeditionary force, and Josephine Firecaller, the royal sorceress of Halsha's imperial palace. He has a younger brother named Gavril. They grew up in Halsha's capital, Koltsovo. His talent for frost magic was discovered at a young age, and his mother took him on as an apprentice. Elisha lost both of his parents as a child following the rise of Hovannes I to the throne, an aggressive expansionist. Detractors in the imperial court denounced his mother as a foreign spy when he was 10, and she was sent into exile, where she lost contact with her family. His father was sent on a disaster recovery mission to Prey Veng when Elisha was 16, after having spoken out against Hovannes' new anti-Fae policies, and he failed to return. A family friend then took the brothers in. Elisha continued his studies during this time, and began to explore the field of summoning magic. He also made friends with a wandering thief from Halsha's mountain provinces, Nestor. When Elisha was 20, Emperor Hovannes rounded up various politically problematic individuals associated with the previous imperial court, including Elisha. His brother Gavril was able to remain at home because he was underage. The emperor ordered the creation of a paramilitary unit, the Hunter Corps, to combat the Fair Folk in the empire's outer territories, and enlisted these individuals despite their general lack of military training. Elisha was deployed to Loycester, which at that time was a vassal of Halsha. Nestor joined his unit at the last minute in solidarity, making him the only voluntary member of the Hunters. Several Hunters tried to defect on the way to Loycester, as the deployment was seen by many as a thinly-veiled suicide mission. Elisha and Nestor remained with their unit until they were ambushed by Fae-Wyrms and scattered in a deep ravine in southern Loycester. There, in an extensive cave network containing a lodestone portal to the High Realm, they discovered evidence that Hovannes was one of the Fair Folk himself. Having joined forces with another Hunter, the popular singer Chesanny, they set off on a journey to uncover the truth behind the rise of Hovannes to the imperial throne. Along the way, several others from around Karsen joined his party, each bearing a grievance of some kind against the emperor. Elisha's journey led to the eventual recovery of his father Vissarion from Prey Veng, who had been kept as a prisoner of Hovannes for his nearly-successful efforts to undermine his expansionist rule. Elisha also found out that Hovannes meant to unite Karsen under his rule to allow for the smooth invasion of Halse by the Fair Folk, which he would call forth by using an ancient dragon artifact called the Seraphintegri, a device that could rend the Deepskies and break the seal of the High Realm. Josephine Firecaller had in fact obtained the artifact in her youth after laying waste to a heavily-guarded ancestral dragon hoard in Oruva. With his friends' help, Elisha stole the Seraphintegri from the Halshan imperial vaults. Unfortunately, they were caught and declared traitors to the throne. They lived on the run for two years. While avoiding Halshan authorities, Elisha found his mother living in exile in Ahakane. She told him that the only way to destroy the Seraphintegri was to sacrifice the lives of a faerie, a drake, and a human in exchange for the power of the artifact, as it was imbued with Fae magic. While some of his friends volunteered themselves, he staunchly refused to kill anyone, even their enemies, and searched for another method. Before he left her, she placed a divine combustion hex on the Seraphintegri, which would cause the artifact's magic mechanism to backfire and make a mini-Cataclysm rip through the High Realm, ideally destroying most of it. However, this would only be activated if the Seraphintegri were to be destroyed. At some point, Elisha's party was captured without him and brought to Hovannes' court. Hovannes offered to pardon Elisha's friends in exchange for him. He convinced them to do so only once he informed them of his new plan to destroy the artifact. However, Nestor did not trust him, having suspected him of using himself as one of the sacrifices, and enacted one of his own, to assassinate Hovannes and use him as one of the sacrifices for the Seraphintegri, the others being two of their party members. Somehow, Elisha and Nestor's plans coincided by accident. Elisha succeeded in sacrificing himself, after Nestor murdered and offered up Hovannes, a faerie, and a drake, the latter of which were innocents imprisoned in the imperial dungeons. Hovannes had died after Elisha, however, and did not count as a sacrifice in any case due to his corrupted humanity. The Seraphintegri was successfully destroyed and its hex went off, laying waste to much of the High Realm's royal court, as well as Koltsovo in the process. Personality Elisha had a cheerful demeanor belying a passion for magical research and knowledge in general, as well as a moodier, uptight side. It was said that he had his father's more gregarious nature, as opposed to his mother's condescending, cold personality. Skills/Abilities Above all, Elisha was a scholar. During his short life, he wrote books on summon magic and the nature of Socii. He did have the abilities of an anima mage as well. While not as powerful as his sorceress mother, he still was capable of casting the highest-level ice spells. He was also a talented summoner, and could summon socii of all kinds, most notably his ice fox companion and the ice wyvern spirit Dugong. Relationships Elisha was closer with his mother Josephine than the rest of his family because of their similar talent for magic. He did love his father, however, and took care of his younger brother as best as he could after their parents disappeared. He and Gavril did clash frequently, however, because of Gavril's belief that their mother was actually a foreign spy. He was best friends with Nestor, and got along well with all of his other adventuring friends. Appearance Elisha was slight and feminine in stature and face, with looks that took after his fair-haired Loycesterian mother. He often wore her earrings. He typically dressed like a Halshan mage except when in exile. Stats Experience = 32 Wisdom = 20 Category:Characters Category:Halshans Category:Dead People Category:Good Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Humans Category:Minor Characters